Woman in Blue (La Femme en bleu)
c. 1919
Oil on canvas
100.3 × 60.3 cm (39.5 × 23.7 in)
SEE IT IN PERSON
● On view now — Collection Gallery, Room 10, East Wall
Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia · verified July 2026
Discussion
FROM THE BARNES FOUNDATION’S CATALOG
Born in Lithuania, Soutine emigrated to Paris in 1913 and settled in the bohemian neighborhood of Montparnasse. The identity of his sitters is rarely known, but we can assume they were friends or acquaintances who posed for free; Soutine was desperately poor. Like many of his portraits, this one has a searing psychological intensity. Thick, gestural brush strokes create a distorted body and spectacularly talon-like hands; black eyes stare out from a face swirling with green, orange, and blue.
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